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HARRISBURG - With another May primary at hand, Pennsylvania's scandal-plagued General Assembly is once again under fire.

And this time, it could get serious.

Four years ago, the public reacted to the Legislature's now-infamous midnight pay raise by sweeping many incumbents from office. The pay raise was later repealed, but the Legislature's problems, it turned out, were just beginning.

Since then, 25 current and former legislators and staffers have been charged and two legislative leaders convicted of using their offices for political or personal gain, while in the background firestorms of controversy have raged over things like budget delays, pensions and per diems.

All of which has fed public cynicism about state government and prompted a host of candidates to campaign on changing the way Harrisburg does business. The discussion so far has ranged from stopping questionable practices to full blown reform.

One area of focus is the size of the legislative branch. And, critics say, rightfully so.

"We need to scale back," said Eric Epstein, coordinator of RockTheCapitol.org. "Legislators and their staff need to live in the same world as the rest of us."

According to the most recent comprehensive report from the National Conference of State Legislatures, Pennsylvania has the largest full-time and second most expensive legislative branch in the nation. The report, based on information from the 2008-09 fiscal year, does not reflect recent cutbacks by some legislatures, including Pennsylvania's, but is the latest available from NCSL.

The report shows that, despite ranking sixth in the nation in population, Pennsylvania's legislative branch of 253 lawmakers and 2,918 support staff, dwarfs those of larger, more populous states.

No other state even comes close to the size of its legislative operation.

And the cost shows.

Only California outspent Pennsylvania on its legislature in 2008-09, said the NCSL, which used 2008 U.S. Census data for its report. Even then, it wasn't by much.

With 120 lawmakers and 2,067 legislative staffers, California spent $336 million on its legislative branch, compared to Pennsylvania's $319 million. But California, the most populous state in the nation, has 36.5 million people. Pennsylvania has 12.5 million.

And the drop-off in cost after Pennsylvania is dramatic.

The nation's third most expensive full-time legislature, New York, has 212 lawmakers, a support staff of 2,676 and a population of 19.4 million. It spent $216 million in 2008-09, more than $100 million less than Pennsylvania, the NCSL reports.

The fourth, Florida, has only 160 lawmakers with a support staff of 1,457, the NCSL reports. It spent $175 million in 2008-09. Florida's population was 18.4 million in 2008, the NCSL noted.

States with populations closer to Pennsylvania, like Ohio at 11.5 million and Illinois at 12.8 million, spent far less. Illinois spent $71 million; Ohio, $48 million. Illinois has 177 lawmakers and 980 staffers. Ohio has 132 legislators and 465 staffers.

The difference between full-time and part-time legislatures is even more stark.

Texas, for instance, with a 2008 population of 24.3 million, has the largest of all part-time legislatures in the country with 181 lawmakers and a legislative staff of 2,090. It spent $126 million in 2008-09, according to the NCSL.

Officially, New Hampshire has the largest state assembly in the country with a delegation of 424 lawmakers. But it, too, is part-time. With a support staff of only 147 people, it spent only $14 million on its legislature in 2008-09.

Only 10 of the country's 50 legislatures are considered full time.

The NCSL defines a part-time legislature as one in which delegates spend 50 percent or less of a work week on their legislative duties. In Pennsylvania, lawmakers spend an average of 80 percent of their work week in Harrisburg or their home offices, it says.

It wasn't always that way.

Four decades ago, Pennsylvania was a part-time legislature and, although no formal decision was ever made or approved, the General Assembly decided to turn itself into a full-time body in order to maintain status with the executive branch.

The legislature created a Commission for Legislative Modernization which recommended adding session days, hiring more staff, providing lawmakers with offices in the capital and in their districts, as well as other perks.

Legislative leaders took the recommendation and, beginning in the 1970s, the public began electing candidates who promised to be full-time legislators. Part of the consequences is that the legislative bureaucracy swelled from 532 staffers in 1969, to 1,700 in 1984 and close to 3,000 in 2003 while the number of lawmakers remains fixed at 203 House members and 50 senators.

Being full-time hasn't helped lawmakers solve some major problems such as overhauling school property taxes (notwithstanding the slots-funded relief averaging $200 this year for each Pennsylvania household), providing electric rate relief after utility caps were removed and consolidating the huge number of local governments.

However, during the past three years lawmakers successfully tackled a number of second-tier issues that are important to large segments of the population. These include tighter state regulation of home mortgage lenders, home contractors and kennel operators as well as an indoor smoking ban, requiring insurers to provide autism coverage and coverage for single young adults under family health insurance policies and creating an alternative energy program.

By 2008, the legislative expense involved translated into a cost of $25.40 a year for every man, woman and child in the state. It was the third highest per capita cost in the nation, behind Alaska at $57.72 and Rhode Island at $26.79.

New York's per capita cost, meanwhile, came to $11.11 in 2008 while California, by virtue of its large population, came to $9.19.

The base salary for legislators in both houses of Pennsylvania's General Assembly is $78,314 a year, fourth highest in the nation, behind California at $95,291, Michigan at $79,650 and New York at $79,500.

Salaries, however, are only a part of the actual cost. Factoring in health and pension benefits and other expenses, the real cost of the average legislator climbs to $125,000 to $150,000, depending on how much a legislator claims in reimbursements.

In response to the state's ongoing fiscal crisis, the state this year for the first time in memory actually cut what it spends on the Legislature and related agencies, trimming about $31 million for a 2010 budget of $288 million.

The budget includes $184 million for the House of Representatives and $92 million for the Senate. However, about 70 percent of the legislative budget is eaten up by salaries and benefits, most of it for legislative staff.

Despite the large numbers, legislative spending is only a sliver of the state's annual $27.8 billion budget, major portions of which goes to medical assistance and public education.

The Legislature also controls a $113 million surplus, even after drawing down about $87 million to pay for legislative salaries during a 101-day budget stalemate. Both lawmakers and state workers faced payless paydays for five weeks last summer until a stopgap budget was enacted. Gov. Ed Rendell removed legislative funding from the stopgap budget, but lawmakers drew on their surplus to pay themselves salaries until a new budget was enacted on Oct. 9.

The budget delay isn't the only hit the legislature has taken since 2005.

In 2007, Attorney General Thomas Corbett launched "Bonusgate", an investigation into whether legislative staffers were used - and paid - illegally for campaign-related work done on state time.

So far, 25 people with ties to the Democratic and Republican caucuses in the House have been charged. Ten have pleaded guilty or been convicted, including former Rep. Mike Veon of Beaver, who was convicted on 14 counts, and two have been acquitted.

Two former House speakers, John Perzel, R-172, Philadelphia and Bill DeWeese, D-50, Waynesburg, also face charges. It remains to be seen if what Mr. Corbett has described as an ongoing investigation will now move into the Senate.

Last year, long-time Senate power broker Vince Fumo of Philadelphia, was tried and convicted of 137 counts of corruption and related charges. He is now serving a 55-month sentence at a federal penitentiary in Ashland, Ky.

And just recently state Sen. Jane Orie, R-40, Pittsburgh, and a sister were charged with using her senate office staff to help with political campaigns for her and a third sister, state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin.

Closer to home, another veteran lawmaker, Sen. Robert Mellow, D-22,Peckville, has run into ethical questions of his own, after it was announced that he was appointed to a paid position on the board of Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Later, it was disclosed that for years he paid the rent on his district office in Peckville, which is financed by taxpayer money, first to a company made up of his then-wife and the wife of a former aide and later, after his divorce, to himself.

After 40 years in office, Mr. Mellow has decided not to seek re-election, as has another long-time Harrisburg fixture, state Sen. Raphael Musto, D-14, Pittston Twp., whose home was recently searched as part of an as-yet unexplained investigation.

Meanwhile, two veteran House members, state Reps. Jim Wansacz, D-114, Old Forge, and John Yudichak, D-119, Nanticoke, have opted to forgo re-election and run instead for the vacant Senate seats of Mr. Mellow and Mr. Musto, respectively.

Mr. Wansacz and Mr. Yudichak also had brushes with controversy when it was reported that both own homes in Harrisburg but still collect per diems. Mr. Yudichak says he plans to sell his house and has started submitting receipts for expenses. Mr. Wansacz says he will stop collecting per diems.

The pending vacancies, however, have set off a scramble for seats in the Northeast. Whether the races will lead to any meaningful reform remains to be seen. But already some candidates are pledging to put a stop to business as usual in Harrisburg.

Not all the state seems caught up in reform after an initial wave swept through in 2006. One-third of the 189 House members seeking re-election are unopposed. In the Senate, where even-numbered seats are on the ballot, nine senators have no opposition.

But even those facts might be misleading.

In a Quinnipiac University poll earlier this month, 49 percent of the respondents in Northeast Pennsylvania said they disapprove of the way the Legislature is doing its job. Thirty-nine percent said they approve and 12 percent say they have no opinion.

Statewide, 54 percent of respondents say they disapprove; 31 percent say they approve and 14 percent said they have no opinion. The poll surveyed 1,412 voters and contained a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Contact the writer: rswift@timesshamrock.com

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21 posted comments

The midnight pay raise was simply a smoke-screen to divert attention away from other areas. Most seriously for example is PA House Rule #65(b), Legislators gambling benefits; look at the specifics in a pre-2007 House Rules Handbook or Pennsylvania Manual, very specific. 2007+ editions only refer to 4Pa.C.S.ss1512/13. I published the specifics in the 2006 Campaign Process. Look at these benefits, it's an atrocity. www.smartvoter.org/vote/barli.

House Rule #65(b) pinpoints Legislators gambling benefits. After word got out the 2007 Edition of the Rule Handbook & The Pennsylvania Manual no longer printed the specifics, only a referral to the actual statute; the midnight payraise was a smoke-screen for these & other specific legislator benefits! Further ammunition against specific incumbents is lethal fuel necessary to get the job done! Thank you, www.smartvoter.org/VOTE/BARLI.

Lets Start reforming by Voting out every last Republican out of office. They put us in this mess by give the Corporate Crooks everything they needed to be successful the last ten years. Greedy Republicans equals Dirty Republican Politicians plus Corporate Crooks.

Those corrupt big shots won't continue to win out over the decent little guy once enough other decent little guys get up and stand behind him to bring fairness back into our government system! The decent little guys have yet to get a fair chance to be represented on the ballot! And talking about Democrats vs. Republicans is like pitting nearsightedness against farsightedness, and in the end 20-20 vision still loses out to a big case of the blind leading the blind!

Wansacz has represented himself well. Look at all those per diems he has raked in over the years in addition to his regular pay,and taxpayer paid car leases and insurance. He might be a good guy, but so was AJ Munchak and look at the lousy job he has done to all of us. We expect better and deserve better. Say no to career politicians.

Hey the Times found another way to tell the same story about the PA Legislators and try to make Jim Wansacz look corrupt. WHere is the story about all the $$ he has brought in to the 114th district for our local fire companies, playgrounds, lights for our playing fiends, and keeping our community from becoming a giant landfill? Maybe if Jim goes and has his pictue in front of the New Medical School you will put his photo. I guess you need to take credit for thing you had nothing to do with to get something positive written for you.

We have had enough of all the beer drinking, cigar smoking and cigar playing by Wansacz in Harrisburg with the good old boy politicians like Mr Veon who is going to jail for corruption after being convicted by a jury. Not to mention Wansacz's pay raise, the per diems, the car leases and insurance, high salary, generous pension, dental coverage, prescription drug and eyeglass coverage, life insurance, holidays, vacations... He gets everything he can off the system. We don't need any more career politicians going to Harrisburg. No way to Wansacz!

We have way too many representitives. Every two towns in the valley do not need to send someone to harrisburg. Cut back, way back and we will be able to pass laws and budgets on time. Too many cooks, in this case crooks spoil the state. Cut back, make less people accountable for more. Right now there are too many to share the blame, to many people in goverment to hide and missuse our tax dollars. Its time to shrink the government, and to add term limits. We should also make every company that does business in pa required to use E-Verify.

Sick of the BS: spot on. I made the same prediction when they ran the last story (that stayed on the Times website front page for days). No doubt the paper is in the tank for Doherty's run for Bob Mellow's Senate seat. Expect one or two more smear articles before the primary to hurt Wansacz in his bid. It is really sickening how the press and media have learned to abuse the power entrusted them to further their own candidates and political agenda. Another sign of a democracy in trouble.

Republicans and Corporations destroyed the American Dream for our kids and their kids. Their greed and self service is second too none. Anyone who votes for a republican is greedy and self severed or just miss guided suckers.

Mellow belongs in jail - and may very well end up there. He is as corrupt and self-serving as they come.And isn't it good-hearted and generous of Wansacz to give up huge per diems after years of collecting them while at the same time owning a home in Harrisburg? He's giving them up only BECAUSE HE GOT CAUGHT and because he's now running for the state senate seat currently held by the corrupt Bob Mellow. What kind of a moron would vote for this guy?

Electing Doherty would CONTINUE the abuses. Look at all of the pay to play that has been going on in the city of Scranton. Look at the DEBT he has accrued under his watch. The people need to WAKE UP and SAY NO TO DOHERTY!!

Corruption extends into the courtrooms of NEPA as well. Administrative courts, Workers' Comp and Appellate Courts very often look the other way, and take the path of least resistance. Very often appellate courts will refuse to take a case that exposes corruption at a lower level. They are very much like the Vatican's actions that protecting the status quo is far more important than cleaning out the corrupt in their own ranks, lest they be tarred with the same brush.Even in the courts, its not what you know, its who you know.

Thanks for waking up Times...I guess the FBI in town has you on your toes as the 4th branch? Now how about a story on County government and what it does? As far as I can tell, besides corruption, it doest do anything except deliver warrants and run corrupt prisons. We can change that and eliminate county tax altogether...